


The Death Of A Bachelor

by lilolilyrae



Category: James Bond (Craig movies)
Genre: 00Q - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Former James Bond/Vesper Lynd, Friendship, Getting Together, M/M, Male-Female Friendship, Movie: Casino Royale (2006)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-18
Updated: 2018-09-18
Packaged: 2019-07-12 23:44:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,151
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16005779
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilolilyrae/pseuds/lilolilyrae
Summary: Vesper Lynd lives.But so does the guy called Q...





	The Death Of A Bachelor

**Author's Note:**

> 2018-09-18  
> I've shipped 00Q for ages, but now I've realised that I never watched "Casino Royale" before, I dunno why it must've just slipped past me... Anyways, now that I did watch it I needed to write a story justifying the Bond/Q relationship without ignoring the storyline of the film because I really loved it!  
> (Also, just accept that Vesper lives for the sake of the story, okay? Okay!)
> 
> And I had Death of a Bachelor by Panic! At The Disco stuck in my head all day because Karaoke (don't ask), so... Yeah :D  
> Enjoy!

_M_ ost stories concerning the pairing James Bond/Q (or Quentin, Quinn, sometimes he's a Holmes brother, sometimes not) work this way:

\- There are no other love interests

\- The other love interests are dead.

So, if, for example, Vesper Lynd from Casino Royale were still be alive, would that mean bond/Q could never happen? I think not _!_

* * *

* * *

 

 

_When the house starts filling with water, she knows her life will be over. Her life as she knew it already is... So why not just give up? It's obvious she was never cut out for this world._

_She locks the elevator._

_It crashes into the depths._

_On the ground it is smashed and she is swept out and away, pulled even deeper into the sea by a current too strong to fight had she wanted to._

 

_Her body was never found._

_But does it mean she died?_

 

 

 

 

When James Bond gets a message to meet a stranger in a café in plain daylight, it's usually while on a case, dealing with diplomats, other spies or criminal masterminds, and either way with secrets that threaten the earth as we know it.

But he isn't on a case. 

He has just returned to London actually, and he's fairly certain he got all of the latest bad guys well disposed of, and everyone that could need protection dealt with.

So why the note?

A ' _former lover'_?

That's what it says, at least, but that could be code for a lot of things. Not like it's a code he understands...

If the message were longer, je could ask Q to decrypt it for him, the new quartermaster has proven his worth yet again this mission. But he doubts that even he could read more into those short lines. Well, he shouldn't bring his personal issues to work anyway.

 

And ' _someone he believes to be dead'_?

Again, that could mean a lot of things.

Hell, even if he takes only the people whose bodies were never found and whose files still got the stamp from the MI6, it's an impressive list of possible survivors.

 

Yet, there is only one person who is both literally a lover and most-likely-dead. Well, at least if lover means _love_ -er and not just bedmate...

Thinking back, it gives him quite a fright to realise that he has mostly no idea what happened to the people he seduced on missions.

But the one, the one he thought he really loved...

 

James does not know what to make of this.

And he shouldn't go, he doesn't have any backup, and he doesn't want to call for Amy either, so it's really stupid and way too dangerous... 

 

 

 

He goes to the café. 

 

It's dark inside, more of a bar-like place than a happy hipster coffee shop. 

One more sign that he shouldn't go in there.

Just somehow, the darkness doesn't seem threatening but rather cozy, and he knows exactly who would enjoy it in here.

 

He recognises her silhouette instantly, and she recognises him as well.

"I didn't know whether you'd come"

"I wasn't sure I'd come, either."

Sitting down, his eyes adjust to the light inside. Now he first gets a good look of her face. She's thinner than she used to be, nearly gaunt, and a look in her eyes as if she had worried too much in the past. Her hair- a badly coloured blonde- is put up in a messy ponytail he has never seen on her before.

But it's still undeniably her.

Vesper Lynd. 

 

"I thought you were dead."

"Well, I guess I wanted to die"

"Why? Wh-"

In that moment, he waitress comes, and except for placing their order they are both silent until she is out of hearing range again.

"Why as in why did I try to commit suicide, or why as in why didn't it work out?"

"No- I mean, yes, that too, but why didn't you tell me you were still alive?"

 

She cringes.

"How about I'll answer them all in that order. Okay- I didn't want to live because it felt like I wasn't really alive anymore either way, you know? I mean, I had thought that I had found my, whatever, true destination in life being with you, but in reality I had only ended my old life without a guarantee for a new one. And even if we had still had the money, the peace and quiet wasn't your true self. Your old life would have caught up with you, sooner or later."

He wants to disagree. But it feels like a lie. So he doesn't interrupt. 

"And then I had stolen my _former employers money_ for a _criminal_... You probably believed I had betrayed you because of it... I saw no future for me. When I was caught in that elevator while everyone around me was trying to kill each other, it felt like the world was going to end."

She is silent for a moment, eyes watching something far away.

"You know, I don't regret not dying- but in that moment, I really wanted to be gone, if only to escape it all"

He nods. He knows the sentiment. 

And right now, the only reason why he isn't shaking is his extensive training- and perhaps because by now he is used to his own PTSD.

 

"And why I didn't I tell you... At first, I just wanted to get away- I had seen so much death. I mean, obviously not close to what you have seen in your life, but for me it was too much. And then after a while when my head became clear again, I just figured that we are too diffierent. It would have never worked out between the two of us anyways- you need your world. I need mine."

She sighs. 

"But I guess I always felt guilty for leaving you in the dark, so- here I am."

 

For a minute, they sit in silence.

Then, for the first time in what feels like hours but we're merely minutes, he draws in a breath and starts to talk.

 

"Yeah. I guess I knew it from the beginning, but then when we got together I didn't want to see it. Even after you were- gone, I was just _clinging_ to the thought that we belonged together. But honestly? I knew I was mostly just grieving for a life with you I never had and was never going to get anyway. I mean, don't get me wrong, I did grieve for you, too, I honestly liked you. Like you. But you're right, we are just too different."

 

His phone beeps. He looks down. M, requesting his attendance immediately. 

Narrowing his eyes, he looks around the room. Yep, that's definitely Alex by the bar, though standing with his back to them.

"What is it? You didn't bring any- _problems_ with you, did you? I like this place"

There's true fear underlying her joking tone, so he's quick to shake his head.

"Just a friend who is probably concerned I'd run off with you and told the boss to make me come to HQ" 

"Not a problem, now is it?" She laughs, but her eyes are sad.

He smiles. Again, he understands the sentiment. 

"Perhaps not" he slowly says. "but what stops us from staying in contact? Keep a sense of perspective, knowing what's going on in our separate worlds"

She smiles, and this time it's genuine. 

 

 

They have breakfast together, some times. He doesn't really remember why they started it, maybe because the one thing they both are because of their jobs is early risers.

Over time, they become friends.

First, they only meet in coffee shops, then at Vesper's place, too. And one day, he invites her over to his place.

She makes a joke about probably being the only female in here he doesn't have sex with. He cringes: it's not untrue, but the full truth is that he doesn't allow anyone in here, especially not someone he only knows for the night.

 

They get to know each other better, and as friends, their differences are not in the way so much.

Vesper still doesn't like his world of action and hiding.

James finds he can't stand the lack of excitement in her apartment for more than a week.

But they enjoy each other's company all the same.

 

Vesper goes back to dating men she meets online.

Bond goes back to working and ignoring that love even exists...

Until one day, in the MI6 between missions, watching his quartermaster work and chatter about how he 'should better bring one item back intact or there will be consequences', and he can't stop a grin from spreading over his face. This feels like home, this is- _he_ is what makes this room the one James is most comfortable in. Q.

He shakes his head. He'll have to focus on the mission. But he can't stop some thoughts about how he will best ask his quartermaster out on a date, once he'll be back in England... 

 

He shouldn't have beaten himself up over that, as in the end, battered and bruised as he is, while he's returning his (very much destroyed) equipment to Q-branch, he can't help it and just blurts out:

"Do you want to go out with me? Like, a date?"

And Q, after spluttering, turning adorably red and dropping the equipment, says yes.

 

 

 

 

That has been a few months ago now.

 

They're in bed together, James and his quartermaster who has first turned friend and then lover.

It's the early hours of the morning, and James has just woken up, Q still fast asleep in his arms after working through half of the night on one of his projects.

He buries his nose in the hair of the sleeping Q, breathing in and smiling. 

Then he hears the door to the flat open, and he's ready to make a jump towards his gun when he remembers: it's Saturday, and he told Vesper that he landed back in England with no new orders two days ago.

 

 

Vesper enters the flat.

James Bond's current semi-regular housing is hidden from the world, no-one should enter but him, no one has the codes necessary to get in unharmed, so that no-one may betray him, willingly or unwillingly.

The only reason she does is, as he said, that no-one would expect her to have them. But she knows that's just his way of saying that he trusts her.

 

"Hey, you forgot to secure the booby trap on the second door again..."

He doesn't reply, slowly extracting himself from the still-sleeping Q.

"James?"

Now she sounds slightly scared. After all, his dangerous world is still nothing for her.

"I'm here..." James says quietly, hoping not to wake Q. He doesn't get enough sleep as is...

 

"Everything's okay, I've just got company"

He doesn't sound stressed. But would he really invite someone in here? She's never met anyone but him inside.

"Company? The gun wielding or the naked kind?"

"The naked kind and I think the kind that doesn't want you to see them"

 

She lifts an eyebrow. Who doesn't want to be seen with the notorious James Bond? More importantly, who of that kind would he like to be with? 

And for what? Sex, after all, he could have anywhere. Smiling at the realisation, she leaves them to it. They can have breakfast together another time.

 

Later, she sends him message.

 

> _I hope it works out for you this time :)_

And an audio: '[Death of a Bachelor](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IT4seGdXn_Y)'

 

James frowns down at his phone.

"What?" Q looks up from his laptop screen.

"Just... an- acquaintance- sent me something, it has an audio attached to it...

She likes to send stuff that has a meaning, but she's not the kind to utter death threats?"

He shows him the screen.

 

"You know people who aren't the kind to send death threats? I'm impressed!"Q laughs. Then he reads the songtitle and laughs even harder.

"I know that song! I didn't know you told anyone about us?"

"I haven't?" Now James is confused.

"Play it, come on!"

 

... _Happily ever after_

_How could I ask for more?_

_A lifetime of laughter_

_At the expense_

_Of the death of a bachelor..._

"Huh"

"Yeah. Sure you didn't tell anyone?"

"Well... She was her earlier..."

"What?"

"You were still asleep, I told her to go away"

James has a quizzical look on his face. "How did she know you were more than a one night stand?"

 

Q smiles. "I suppose this _acquaintance_ knows you better than you think! I'd like to meet her, someday."

And, perhaps against better judgement, James feels himself nod.

But what wouldn't he do for his love. Even if it means trying to save the world from a quartermaster and a financial expert that will definitely get along like a house on fire.

 

* * *

The end :)

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you liked it! 
> 
> Kudos, Comments and Constructive Criticism make my day <3


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